1. Field of the Invention
The disclosed embodiments relate to models for simulating electronic device performance and, more particularly, to method, system and program storage device for simulating electronic device performance as a function of process variations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices (e.g., single semiconductor devices, cells comprising multiple semiconductor devices, or entire integrated circuits) of the same design will often differ due to process variations (i.e., variations due to non-uniform conditions during processing). Types of process variations include, but are not limited to, variations in dopant concentration, variations in diffusion depth, variations in dielectric layer thickness, etc. Such process variations will in turn result in variations in electronic device performance.
In order to ensure that an electronic device will achieve a given performance target when manufactured, designers often simulate performance using a compact device model. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a compact device model is a set of equations that describe how the particular electronic device will perform as a function of various model parameter values. Many compact device models (e.g., Berkeley Short-Channel IGFET Model (BSIM), which refers to a family of metal oxide field effect transistor (MOSFET) models) support Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. Typically, when Monte Carlo simulations are used, only a single model parameter value is varied and all other model parameter values will remain fixed. However, in order to provide more robust simulation results (i.e., a more robust model of electronic device performance), it would be advantageous if multiple model parameters were varied.